Planting Anew

Friday I am officially planting potatoes. I know I said I was going to do that last week, but I always felt like it was still too early. I have talked with Mrs. Lummus regarding the right time to meet on Friday. She asked if I had enough potatoes for every 4th grader to plant (there are 43 of them), which I don't think I have. My beds are only so big, but I told her that I wanted to plant more onions and brocolli, so hopefully every 4th grader will plant something. This coming week, I will send Mrs. Ledbetter my "Healthy Snack Week" advertisement- the parents need to know about it the next time the Knightly News comes out. Next weekend, I need to look into actually purchasing the snacks in bulk. These are the type of potatoes I bought:

Yukon Gold

 

 Superior


Pontiac


This past week, our senior class watched FoodInc in support of my senior project. I know every time I watch that documentary, I get something new from it and I hope everyone else benefitted from watching it. I know Mrs. Tewkesbury asked to borrow it over the weekend as well as Mrs. Zion. Also, this past week, I sent my research paper to my grandparents who live in Washington state, and they told me they enjoyed it immensely. My grandpa is a doctor and shares the same passion for health as my mom and I do. That's all for now.

On the Brink of a New Adventure

So, I was supposed to plant potatoes today, but it was rainy when I woke up, so I have decided to delay the grand event til next week. I emailed Mrs. Lummus and she thought it best to delay anyways- she thinks it is still too early to plant. So, I hope to come through with my plan next week. I did purchase the potatoes though: One pack of Yukon Gold, one of Superior, and one of Pontiac. I have also purchased onion seeds, brocolli seeds, and swiss chard seeds. Perhaps this time around, my garden will be more successful. It was successful at first, but then bad weather showed up, which was obviously impossible to prevent. Anyway, this past week, I did clear out the rest of the dead plants from the beds. Surprisingly enough, some raddishes were still growing, but I uprooted them anyways. There is still cabbage, but I'm not quite sure when the right time to pick it is. I'll need to research that because they look ready to harvest.
 I also really need to start thinking about which snacks to purchase for the lowerschool "Healthy Snack Week". As I've said before, this week will probably be the week before adventure week and I did contact a local organic farmer who said she would come speak to the lower school. I need to get that date set in stone and talk to Mrs. Locke about a good time. I also need to email Mrs. Ledbetter soon so she can put in a small advertisement in the Knightly News reminding parents to sent their kids with money during this week. The poster contest is still on for each class! All they have to do is create a poster promoting a healthy lifestyle and I will be the judge! I'm not sure what they will win yet, but it'll be something good. Tomorrow is senior club day and we will be watching part of FoodInc, which I am quite excited about! I ordered it on Amazon on Tuesday and it has arrived just in time! That's all for now, folks! Until next Thursday night.

Home Stretch

Another week gone by in Senior Project! We are almost done, which is really hard to believe. I remember the stress of it all last year when we were being pressured to think about what we wanted our projects to concern and now, here we are, almost at our journey's end. Sadly, nothing has changed since my last blog post- I have continued to compost with the 4th graders, but now only once a week instead of twice or more. They are still excited as ever about the garden that is kind of in limbo right now. Sometimes when I take a few volunteers to compost, one of them will talk about their garden at home, which always makes me excited. This weekend, I will need to uproot the remains of the pre-snow week garden so as to make room for the potatoes and other seeds which we will plant next week! I'm hesitant about planting this coming week though, because I hear of another possible snow day coming up sometime next week- we'll see. I think potatoes can take a frosting, though- they're tough. And I don't want to delay planting any longer! I'm eager to have new seedlings sprout from the ground!

 I really hope that my raised beds will be able to stay in place next year so that the 4th grade teachers can use it to their liking- but what with this new parking lot being installed and all, I'm not sure my gardening beds will remain. I have put a lot of time, energy, and even money into them and would really like to see them being used for educational purposes next year- I don't want my project to end when Senior Project is over- it's something that I would like to last at Oakbrook as a unique part of the curriculum and it's something that I hope will continue to grow. It's an introduction to a way of life that is out of style, yet I still think it a valuable way to live and to understand. Organic gardening is a basic concept of life's cycle, which I think it important to learn at a young age. Anyway, now I'm rambling about why I'm so passionate about my project. Hopefully next week, I'll have something more to talk about!

Change in Plans

 A new change in plans, yet again! Lately I have been feeling really nervous and unsure of "healthy snack week" because I don't think that teenagers will have a positive response to my efforts in eliminating, or at least limiting, their junk food intake. If there's one thing I've learned in the past, it's that it is extremely difficult to make people care about something that they don't normally care about, much less something that I am passionate about. I don't really think that I can stop bad eating habits with one week of awareness- it's more of a lifestyle that people must be accustomed to. Instead, I want to have "healthy snack week" in the lower school only- kids are much more willing to try new things, especially if someone older presents the idea. I think I'll be more successful with younger kids.

This weekend, I plan on purchasing the potatoes in order to plant them next week with the 4th graders. I also need to test my soil, for my own educational purposes, so as to remedy whatever the soil's deficiencies are. I also emailed an organic farmer named Robin Gibson who agreed to come and speak to the elementary students during "healthy snack week" to promote an organic and healthy lifestyle. This week will begin on the 14th of March and end on the 18th. I talked to Mrs. Locke earlier this week to get the "ok" from her and she's on board! To hype the kids up during the week, we'll have a poster contest from 3rd to 5th grade and the class with the best poster, promoting a healthy lifestyle, wins a prize that I have yet to come up with! That's all the progress I've made so far...